When the Chicago Blackhawks submitted their 31-player register of players to make up the roster for their trip to the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers, goalie Corey Crawford was on the list.
That’s good news after all the speculation that followed when he was deemed “unfit to participate” at the start of training camp on July 13.
Crawford also did not take part in team workouts that began early in June.
The netminder has missed over 80 games over the last two seasons due to concussions, but there’s no telling what’s held him out of workouts or camps at this point. Thanks to the league’s rules about privacy, all the information we have pertains to his being “unfit to participate.”
“We still have a fair amount of time until August 1 and the first game,” Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman said Tuesday. “We’re not thinking that far ahead right now. We’re really kind of here day to day. Like we said at the outset, right now Corey’s not here, so we’re focused on the other four goalies. If and when Corey’s ready, then we’ll have that conversation.”
In camp, those other four goalies Bowman mentioned were Malcolm Subban, Collin Delia, Kevin Lankinen, and Matt Tomkins.
In other Chicago news, defenceman Brent Seabrook will not be making the trip to the qualifiers. The Blackhawks blueliner did return as part of Phase 3 and he was skating with the club, but he had surgery back in December and that seems to be lingering.
On Friday, Seabrook said that he wasn’t comfortable after taking part in training camp. He said that his focus is now on next season.
The 34-year-old has seen his ice time on the Blackhawks drop considerably over the last while and produced just four points in 32 games this season. While it was encouraging to see him at camp, most people seem to believe the writing is on the wall for Seabrook at this point.
Image: NHL
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